Thursday, April 10, 2008

More evidence that rape IS about sex: Feminists portray rapists as men who crave domination over women, and using one's penis on her is incidental. If this were true, why would rapists also frequently rely on non-violent techniques to push sex on a women?

With data I've used in a number of recent posts, 851 college men were asked if they had raped anyone in the past year. Two percent said they had. Of that group, 76.5% also admitted that they had used alcohol or drugs to have sex with a woman when she didn't want to. The same number also said yes to a question about getting a female to have sex who didn't want to by using his authority over her (boss, teacher, camp supervisor, etc.). Finally, 94.1% reported that they had overwhelmed at least one woman with arguments and pressure.

So rapists use a variety of techniques to get sex from a woman. They coax, pressure and use drugs and power as well as threats and force. This is inconsistent with the image of a man driven to humiliate a woman, but matches perfectly with the idea that men crave sex, and some men are willing to ratchet up the harshness of their means of getting it until they are successful.

The numbers also show that the percentage of men willing to use some technique increases as the degree of coercion falls. Two percent used threats and force; 2.2% used their authority; 3.8% used alcohol or drugs; and 9.8% used arguments and pressure. Some men will use techniques short of violence, while a smaller number will use whatever it takes.

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